Lyra Martin Tech 09.01.2022 00:Sep AM EDT

Facebook, Instagram May Get More Paid Features

Meta is launching a new department called New Monetization Experiences to build premium services for paying users on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Paying Meta App Users Will Soon Experience Unique Features

As Meta is creating a product organization to discover and develop potential premium services, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp may eventually provide unique features that are exclusively accessible to people willing to pay.

According to a document acquired by The Verge, it is creating a new department dubbed New Monetization Experiences, entirely dedicated to premium services for the company's app.

For creators, Facebook and Instagram already provide paid services like memberships, sponsored events, and Stars, reports Engadget. This new division at Meta, which former research chief Pratiti Raychoudhury will lead, sounds distinct from earlier initiatives.

The department is being developed due to modifications Apple made to iOS ad monitoring, which had a detrimental effect on Meta's advertising company and decreased spending on digital advertising.

Despite the firm's initiative of developing premium services, it has no plans to charge customers to disable advertisements in its apps, s assured by John Hegeman, the company's vice president of monetization. He also stated that the company is actively watching its rivals in the industry, but it is yet unknown what paid services may come from the project.

Meta's money comes almost entirely from ads, although charging consumers wasn't a focus until lately. Regardless, Hegeman downplayed the idea of premium features being a significant part of the company, although he admits that opportunities to create new value and important income streams would be tempting.

On Facebook, group managers can sell exclusive content and virtual stars. At the same time, WhatsApp charges businesses for consumer communications, and Instagram producers may charge for exclusive content.

Other social networking applications have started charging their users this year, so Meta is not the only business that advertises premium services. Twitter monetized Super Follows, TikTok experimented with paid artist memberships, and Discord receives revenue through Nitro. Telegram and Snapchat have also implemented premium levels.

Facebook Standalone Gaming App Will Bid Its Farewell This October

After it launched a gaming platform in April 2020 that allows users to participate in gaming groups, play quick games, and watch their favorite streams, Facebook has recently said that it will be shutting down its gaming app.

According to a report from Engadget, social media expert Matt Navarra and other sites posted an in-app message, indicating that starting on October 28, Facebook will cease the function of its gaming app for iOS and Android.

Meta has been phasing off old services to give way to the development of new ones, writes Tech Crunch. For instance, Facebook will discontinue live shopping on October 1 and will no longer permit live shopping events after this period in order to focus on Reels.

The company launched the app that prioritized streams' content and included a group chat function and other community features to compete with Twitch and YouTube. Facebook did not provide a reason for the shutdown of the standalone app, although it may have been done to save money during what Mark Zuckerberg dubbed one of the worst economic downturns.

Before the demise of the app, Facebook allowed users to download their search data and reminded them that Facebook Gaming would not go away. They may still watch their favorite creators' live streams on the main Facebook app.